And here we go again. May has been stacked with some fantastic releases and I’m a little disappointed with some of the albums I haven’t had time to write about. I’ll include some of those in next month’s write up, but that’s just how these things go I guess.
Anyway, things have gotten a little heavy this month but we still have a fine mix of electronica and indie to keep things varied.
Just a reminder that the Songwhip link will bring you to a launch page for that song on all the music streaming sites that it’s hosted on.
Matrass
Cathedrals
Cathedrals is the debut album by French band Matrass and is a very impressive entry into the world of progressive metal. It seems that time and time again I’m left dazzled by a band’s first record and this is another great addition to that list.
As you’d expect from a prog album, Cathedrals jumps around in style and tone quite a bit. The first song is mostly post metal, but slides into the kind of post rock crescendo that reminds me just why those crescendos are still so effective after all these years. It’s a hell of an introduction to an album.
Appetite for Comfort features some surprising slap bass, which was unexpected to say the least. Adrift slows things down and lets the middle of the album breath before launching into a sky scraping post rock crescendo. The Saxophone on Silence is unexpected but switches up album’s mood before the blackened metal charge that finishes the song in raging style
There’s so much going on here. Even after months of listening to this album I’m still picking out new moments, deft little touches that make the record shine. Cathedrals is a record full of thoughtful, varied bangers and a welcome reminder that metal isn’t a homogeneous slab of bellowing and riffs.
Do yourself a favour and get this album in your ears.
https://songwhip.com/matrass/shreds
Manon Meurt
Unravel
Czechian band Manon Meurt have been ploughing their way through the shoegaze scene for over ten years, making fantastic music that seems to have flown under the radar.
I was wondering if their new album would lean into the shoegaze explosion that is slowly taking over the world, but Manon Meurt are a much more interesting band than that. Rather than dive further into the delay pedals and noise, MM have embraced electronics and changed their sound, making it bigger and far more importantly, better than the waves of bandwagon jumpers out there.
Unravel shows a veteran band intent on showing the world just what they can do.
Timeless is more electronica than a guitar track, being heavily influenced by 90’s trip hop. It’s the third song, Marrow, before MM deploy a wall of sound and it lands so well after the restraint of the first two tracks, and makes it worth the wait.
The back half of the album is more experimental, there are mandolins, strings and some dubby bass. Songs are built on the power of voice and drums instead of walls of guitar noise and are all the more striking for it. While most other shoegaze bands today are happy to be clones of the genre originators, MM have decided to walk their own path and I’m more than happy to be on it with them.
https://songwhip.com/manonmeurt/timeless
Darius
Murmuration
Swiss band Darius describes themselves as a Post Everything band but I’m as clueless as the next person about what that might mean. Is this post rock? Is it instrumental post hardcore? Alt rock? I’m not sure, it’s a bit of all of that, but what I am sure of is that this album rips.
Fritto Misto opens the album with a slow wind up before the band launches forward with some noisy guitar action, getting slowly heavier as the track goes.
Murmuration builds in intensity as it goes, getting faster, becoming more musically aggressive as it progresses. Raccoon in particular breaks out some very entertaining driving energy with a great noisy finish.
The closer, Bilzbute, starts slowly, like the band is recovering from the effort of playing Raccoon. With a woosy guitar chord to kick things off the band slowly lurches forward, building pace. Just as it seems Darius are in a rush to let loose for the last time, careering forward like their life depends on finishing the song as fast as they can, the track staggers into fits and starts, like the band have pushed themselves too far and they’re collapsing towards the finish line. It’s an unexpected end to the record but a very well thought out one.
Murmuration is an album absolutely charged with energy, Darius keeps their intensity going, not bothering with the long drawn out passages that can bog down most instrumental bands. If you’re looking for something to turbocharge your day, this is the album to do it.
https://songwhip.com/darius3/raccoon
Dream Hack
White Heat / Acid City
One half of Industrial techno act Randolph and Mortimer has made a three track, 46 minute love letter to Underworld. As far as I’m concerned, Underworld are more than worthy of such adoration, so I’m all for this.
I could go through each track and point out which Underworld tracks are being referenced but that feels like it would be reductive. This album draws from Dubonbass and Second Toughest, and if you’re onboard with that, just jump in. You’ll love this.
That’s not to say the album is not without its issues, all the tracks here could benefit with some editing. As far as I’m concerned, no song needs to be 20 minutes long, but this album is enjoyable enough that it’s not a deal breaker. But! While the version on streaming platforms is 46 minutes long, there is a club edit version of the album on bandcamp. And if you’re willing to spend the cash, this is a far better (and more succinct) version of an already good album.
https://songwhip.com/dreamhack/liquid-dreams
https://dreamhack.bandcamp.com/album/white-heat-acid-city-club-edits
Bossk
.4
It’s been interesting watching Bossk slowly climb their way up the post metal ladder. Through sheer hard graft on the touring circuit and the crushing riffs on their albums, they’ve made their way into the wider metal community.
This release .4 isn’t truly a new album. It’s a reworking of older songs and collaborations with like minded artists but luckily it all flows together and if you aren’t that fanatical about the band you would never notice.
The opener, Kobe x Pijn, is an unusual start in the way there isn’t much that sounds like Bossk here, this sounds more like the lush, string laden post metal of their collaborators, Pijn. Which is in no way a criticism, this is a brilliant song.
Truth II is post metal at its most lush. Its chilled vibes are driven by a chunky, distorted bass, which languidly pushes the song as it glides forward. The wordless female vocals combined with the electronics make this track really stand out from the crushing riffing that Bossk are known for. You could play this for your gran and she’d love it.
Events Occur in Real Time opens up with a trumpet, which is always a great way of making me happy. Featuring the only harsh vocals on the album, Events really explodes out of your speakers amongst all the prettiness. I (Reuben Gotto 2006 remix) is gloriously noisy while the Maybeshewill collaboration is a gentle piano track, which was slightly surprising.
This is a truly lush metal album, the production is top class and all the songs sound incredible, begging you to turn the album up to the last on your headphones and hearing loss be damned (Don’t do this)
https://songwhip.com/bossk/truthii
El Moono
The Waking Sun
El Moono’s debut ep, Temple Corrupted, really set the bar high for the Brighton alt rock group. It hit hard and was far better than any novice band had any right to be. Unfortunately,many bands have choked when it comes to their debut album, but thankfully El Moono haven’t.
What we get here is an alt rock / metal album that has the heaviness and melody of someone like Deftones but with their own distinct sound, each track mixes things up meaning that the album never sounds samey.
Chains has an almost 70’s rock swagger to it, while Phantom has an industrial feel. The unexpected double kicks on the first Man on Mars really jolts the mid section of the album and is far heavier than anything El Moono have played before.
This is an album that shows off just how imaginative El Moono are. While there are the fingerprints of their influences here, it’s never derivative. The Waking Sun is the sound of a band cutting their niche into the alt rock landscape. Hopefully the world is listening because this is music that deserves its place in the sun.
https://songwhip.com/elmoono/thewakingsun
Niels Orens
S/low nights
I don’t know about you but I have a real soft spot for breaks and I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one. Niels Orens is here with some old school sounds that just put a huge grin on my face.
Chrom.a opens strong, with long drawn out bass notes that really fill the track out and leaves the percussion and synth lines to fight for your attention. It’s music that will work best driving at night, under sodium lights but just to warn you, it will cause speeding.
S/low nights reminds me of Hybrid if anyone remembers them. Even the cello in the second track recalls their orchestral touches adding a welcome richness to the track.
The closer, Sc4m/Luv You, brings post dubstep to the final track. It’s pitched up, chopped up vocals stand out while the brittle synths shine before the 2 step woodblock beat drops.
This is a moody, synthy and polished ep that that makes you want to have a sneaky dance around your room.
https://songwhip.com/nielsorens/am-rinse
i Haxa
Part Two
i Haxa are a strange act to find on Pelagic Records. Sure, the first track on here, Eight Eyes, has that dark folk feel that crosses over with post rock fans, but by the time you get to track two, things have changed drastically.
We Three, starts with a dread building bass that feels like Massive Attack and suddenly this ep has swerved firmly to the electronic side of things. That’s not saying that we’re in dance music territory, the spoken word vocals and the insistent drums are pushing this firmly along, there’s just no guitars.
The Well is another genre swerve. Opening like a torch song, tender vocals combined with piano and violin draw you in before the whole thing opens up like John Barry at his most lush. Just when you think the song can’t get any more dramatic, Rebecca Need-Menear launches into a wordless vocal solo that would make most singers blush. This is breathtaking stuff.
This seems to be a very unusual project. Part Two is almost completely different musically to Part One and I honestly have no idea where the band is going next, but you can be sure I’m sticking around to find out.
https://songwhip.com/ihaxa/the-well
Deathbloom
Ophelia Sees
What do you get if you mix dream pop, shoegaze, and give it a goth flavour? You get my undivided attention.
Ophelia Sees is the debut EP from this Manchester band and for the third time in this blog post I get to be amazed at a band’s first release.
Embers is a gentle instrumental track before Ashes, the first song propper. Ashes glides in with its deep bass and shimmering guitars, delivering a perfect piece of post punk. Deadweight, the ep highlight, ups the distortion and its filthy low end pushes the song into the red with glorious noisy riffs before that shoegaze wall of sound hits.
It’s the dank bass and layers of reverb that drench Seek Me Out with the kind of allure you get from the early Cure or Souxioux albums, only heavier. This is a band that isn’t afraid to go hard but only flirts with metal, this is evil post punk, or, you know, Goth.
It does my heart good to see this kind of genre mixing so I’m all in on what this band is going to do next.
https://songwhip.com/deathbloom/deadweight
And that’s all for this month. Hope you found something you liked.
The ways of exile 